For the past two weeks we've had a morepork, our native owl or "ruru," visiting the bush outside our bedroom window here at Struan Farm. Ruru tend to hide out in that bush every so often at night. They have a loud, haunting "morepork" call, and are viewed to be the guardians of the night. When they call like this it is considered to be a good omen--we can only hope!
The calling usually cranks up between 1-3 a.m., goes on for at least a half an hour. While John slumbers blissfully, it wakes me up. If you see me with dark circles under my eyes this will be why. I've taken to calling the bird "Leroy." We haven't been able to determine if Leroy is looking for a mate (sometimes the calls are returned by a second ruru), hunting, or just generally shooting the breeze.
I haven't tried to answer him back, but if he keeps at it for too long one morning I just might have to see if we can have a chat.
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